Painting by Pablo AmaringoGuest List
Dr. John Alexander
Dr. John Alexander has been an active Society for Scientific Exploration (SSE) member for over two decades.
Victoria Alexander
Victoria Alexander has been researching the mysticism of Catholic Saints for over 20 years.
Pablo Amaringo
A severe heart illness--and the magical treatment of this via ayahuasca--led Pablo toward the life of a shaman, and he eventually became a powerful curandero.
Ananda
Ananda is an international lecturer, teacher and researcher, who is growing in the reputation of being a Visionary Scientist.
Lennon Boardman
Lennon Boardman is a healing facilitator who lives on the Central Coast of California.
Michael Caden
I have come to realise that everything is part of a shamanistic continuum, more available in special areas like Peru, but still recognisable in...
Howard Charing
Howard G. Charing is an international workshop leader on shamanism. He has organised specialist retreats to the Amazon Rainforest since the late 90’s.
Frank Echenhofer
Frank Echenhofer received his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Temple University in 1985.
Peter Gorman
Mr. Gorman is a former recipient of a Blue Mountain Fellowship in investigative journalism and a grant from Conservation International to do a study of indigenous peoples on the Napo River.
Michael Caden
I have come to realise that everything is part of a shamanistic continuum, more available in special areas like Peru, but still recognisable in...
Dr. Richard Grossman
Since the age of 16, Dr. Grossman has been deeply involved in healing, growth and spiritual growth.
David Hewson
The artwork of David Hewson combines the classical painting techniques of the Old Masters with traditional methods of water gilding in gold and other precious metals.
Martina Hoffman
German-born artist, Martina Hoffmann, spent her childhood in Germany as well as Cameroon, West Africa.
Jan Kounen
Jan was a student at the Arts Décoratifs in Nice, France, (E.P.I.A.R.). He learned cinema, animation and pixillation and passed his diploma in 1988...
Leslie Kubin
Leslie currently has a practice with quantum biofeedback therapy, massage therapy and myofascial release in Central California.
Dr. Dennis Mckenna
Dennis McKenna has for the last twenty-five years pursued the interdisciplinary study of ethnopharmacology and psychointegrator plants.
Tom McKinnon
Tom McKinnon is an established visual artist who has exhibited multi-media performance works at major venues nationally and internationally.
Dr. Jorge Gonzales Ramirez
Nació en la ciudad de Cajamarca, (1944). Su Jardín de Infancia es recuerdo gigante por el amor que tuvo en su Profesora.
Ronald Rivera
Ronald is dedicated to the essential shamanism, and he is active broadcaster and promoter of Sessions and Shops with the Master Plant of Ayahuasca.
Alan Shoemaker
Alan Shoemaker left the United States fifteen years ago in order to learn Shamanic healing techniques.
Robert Venosa
New York City born, Venosa was transported into the world of fine art in the late 60's after having experimented with psychedelics and having seen the work of the Fantastic Realists.
Jimmy Weiskopf
Jimmy Weiskopf is a New York-born writer and translator who has lived in Colombia full-time since 1977 and is a leading investigator of its indigenous use of yajé (ayahuasca).
Dennis Wier
Dennis R. Wier is the Executive Director of the Trance Research Foundation.Robert Venosa
The Fantastic Realism art of Robert Venosa has been exhibited worldwide and is represented in major collections, including those of noted museums, rock stars and European aristocracy. In addition to painting, sculpting and film design (pre-sketches and conceptual design for the movie Dune, and Fire in the Sky for Paramount Pictures, and the upcoming Race for Atlantis for IMAX), he has recently added computer art to his creative menu. His work has been the subject of three books, as well as being featured in numerous publications - most notably OMNI magazine - and on a number of CD covers, including those of Santana and Kitaro.
New York City born, Venosa was transported into the world of fine art in the late 60's after having experimented with psychedelics and having seen the work of the Fantastic Realists - Ernst Fuchs and Mati Klarwein in particular - both of whom he eventually met and studied under. Of his apprenticeship with Klarwein, Venosa says, "What a time (Autumn, 1970) that turned out to be! Not only did I get started in proper technique, but at various times I had Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis, Jackie Kennedy and the good doctor Tim Leary himself peering over my shoulder to see what I was up to.
That loft was the energy center in New York, and I reveled in it. And somehow, miraculously, in the midst of all the nonstop pandemonium taking place every day I learned to lay the paint down properly. Even though it was ever put to the test , discipline was one of the more important necessities that Mati emphasized and - through his own adherence - strongly impressed on me: I could only join in the festivities after my work was done and all brushes were washed. Mati taught well the techniques of painting and, even more relevant, of quality living. I'm honored to have been one of the fortunate few to have studied with him."
Venosa moved to Europe in the early 70's settling in the celebrated Mediterranean village of Cadaques in Spain, where he enjoyed the honorable and mighty pleasure of getting to know and hang with neighbor Salvador Dali, as well as the numerous notables in the world of art and literature who gravitated to that magic locale. Much of Venosa's work and attendant exploits have been published in his book, Noospheres (Pomegranate Artbooks). In it Venosa talks of the attitudinal complications of his returning to the U.S. after years of living in Europe: "In 1982 - due to a number of commissions, commercial allurements and a burgeoning recognition of my work afforded through extensive exposure in OMNI magazine and on record album covers - I started traveling to the U.S., dividing my time there between New York and Boulder, Colorado.
Enjoying the clear, clean mountain air and relatively sane consciousness of its populace, I settled on Boulder as my base in the States. Compared to the raucous, colorful activity of Cadaques, Boulder appeared somewhat anorexic. But the siren of success, along with the Muse of Mammon, wailed a seductive tune, irresistible in its promise but demanding in the changes deemed necessary if I were to sing along: The Merry Mediterranean mirage would have to give way to the Aggressive American Kindergarten for a season or two. There would be exhibits to arrange, press releases to disseminate, collectors to romance, critics to confuse and an entirely new sense of art to cultivate. My idea of art, as previously understood, would require major surgery if I were to immerse myself in the American standards and expectations of what that word represented.
The admiration and aristocratic respect given the artist in Europe is stripped clean upon arrival in the U.S. as these architects of culture are transmogrified into novelty items and entertaining curiosities. The centuries-old tradition of dedication and perfection while working in the solitude of a tranquil studio at the limited speed allowed by brush and paint is left at the gates of the rapid-fire, nonstop, instant-sensual-gratification American sitcom culture. Trying to compete in the fast lane of the high-velocity illusions and banal delusions of movies and TV poses a problem for the painter and his two-dimensional immobile images. Nevertheless, the challenge, then as now, of affecting the consciousness with more eternal value cannot be denied, and so, combining the historical deep roots of European culture with the dynamic of America's youthful energy, an attempt is constantly made".
Presently Venosa maintains studios in both Boulder, Colorado, and Cadaques. He also devotes a few weeks each year giving workshops at such institutes as Naropa in Boulder, Skyros Institute on the island of Skyros in Greece, and Esalen at Big Sur, California.
